The visitors had too much power for the Azzurri with Michaela Staniford, Fiona Pocock, Rochelle Clark, Heather Fisher and Maggie Alphonsi also going over in an impressive display.

And while admitting the performance was far from perfect, assistant coach Graham Smith was a happy man.

"At times our execution wasn't always there and we needed to pay more attention to detail - we were certainly not as fluid as we were against Wales - but overall our scrummaging worked really well and all four of our wings made a massive contribution to the victory," said Smith.

"The effort the players put in today was as ever excellent. Italy really made us work hard for this win, and for us this is certainly the most difficult year for us to try and win the Six Nations so we are really pleased with the result."